Reporter and farmer. [volume] (Webster, Day County, Dakota [S.D.]) 188?-1946, 1887-08-18

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Bang.
Bang.
And old. one-armed John B. Hollis,
,fCobasset. laid his smoking rifle up
on the small table before him. Fun
inc a leathern purse from a deep
rocket i'm his pantaloons. and select
mo a ten.cent piece, he handed IL TO
| the nroprietor OF the place and moved
toward the door leading to the street
II was the first time the old gentle,
man had ever visited the gallery, and
his remarkable Workmanship had
excited the curiosity OF those who
were present. He had but one arm,
TO the stump of which was ethxed a
wooden substitute for b missing
member. Upon this he rested the
barrel of his rifle when in the act OF
shooting, not daring to use h artih-
ciaI rest which most of the rifiemen
are only to anxious to avail them
selves of. What was still more unusu'
al was the TACT that. he stood back
from the usual line OF firing about
three PAGES and used ar opensighted
rifle.
aYou shoot remarkably well Tor an
old man." said the proprietor OF n
place, as the ancient marksman had
finished buttoning up his heavy outer
garment.
ayes, considering that ] am in my
92nd year." and the representative OF
an almost extinct generation pulled
up the left sleeve OF his overcoat and
exhibited what looked like the thick
end of a baseball bat. "You see
that?" he continued; "that bit of wood
has done me servicefo nearly seventy
five wears as a rest when at practice
with nv rifle. THERE'S no unsteadiness
in It, no matter how late l stay up at
night. and / believe it has in q large
measure won me the distinction that
/ have ALWAYS enjoyed OF being a dead
shot.
Chow did l lose my armf Well, it Is
a short story, and of no particular IN
terest to q stranger, but as you APP
near to have taken a likin' TO me |
will tell YOU all about it. / was but
IL years old when the misfortune
overlook me-; it happened one day
when u local rife team had assem-
bled for a practical shoot. There was,
in that long time ago the iyeliest kind
of competition between the rifiemen OF
Cohasset and the neghboring towns,
and the boys of my team always de-
pended upon me to pull them out OF a
| hole whenever they got into one, which
was frequently the case. never once
failed them, and for this service they
looked upon me with feelings of the
greatest admiration. On the day in
question we had met to still further
perfect ourselves in the art OF bulls
eye getting, for we had an old score to
settle with q team that had wiped us
out about two week'sprevIously, when
/ was un~avoidably absent. 1t had
come my turn to face the butts and l
stood near to the firing line, with the
stock of my rifle resting
upon my right foot, and my left
arm thrown across the muzzle. As j
was about TO lift the piece preparatory
to taking my position, for some unac-
countable reason it was prematurely
discharged. / felt no pain at the in
slant, but my arm dropped to my
side as ~lifeless as the withered branch
of a tree. My companions sprang to
my relief, and | was assisted to my
home by one of the most downcast ri
fie teams that you ever saw. In addi-
ton to their sympathy with me, they
saw defeat again overshadowing them.
For nine weeks / was practically an
invalid. At the end of that time my
arm had healed sufficiently to allow
a wooden extension to be attached to
the stump, and this, sir, is the iden-
teal piece OF the wood which has
served me as a left arm from that
day TO this. When / had become
somewhat accustomed to my artificial
limb, / thought one day / would try
in the use OF my rifle. So
| went out into a big lot, not
far from the place where / lived,
and began blazing at an impro-
vised target in the shape of a sheet OF
paper with a big ink spot in it's center,
which represented the bullseye. After
a few trials / found hat my wooden
arm was a very good substitute for
the one that l had lost, and before /
finished my practice shoot, / was able
to land about every other bullet
squarely in the linked portion OF my
little target. This practice / continu-
ed for about a week, the accuracy OF
my aim at the end of that time being
almost perfect. Not a soul in the vii
lage knew that / had regained my old
form of craftsmanship, and twas my
purpose that they should not. The
team to which / belonged had, in the
meantime, suffered almost a continu-
GUS series OF defeats, and was upon
the point OF disbanding when / made
known to the boys the intelligence
that | would be pleased to join them
when next they met to try conclusions
with their oft-victorious competitor.
"The day of meeting arrived. and
we assembled at the range. / was the
recipient of many congratulations by
my friends, and even my rivals
could not forego extending to me a
small measure of thanktulness for the
rapid recovery from my unfortunate
accident. But during the shooting
noticed them on several occasions
secretly convercing about my wooden
arm, and one ofthem was bold enough
to. ask me what l intended to do with
my wooden arm-that / certainly did
not think there was the ghost of a
chance OF doing them any harm under
such conditions. i made no reply, be,
lleving within myself that l had a sur.
prise in store for my inquisitive friend.
The firing progressed, and it began co
look as ii the day was again to be
lost to the Cohasset boys. Do what
they would, they could not keep
with their rivals, and when the last
man except myself had finished his
score the totals showed that | must
make ten bullseys in succession to
even win by one point. The out.of
town boys felt highly elated at their
success, and were morally conf
dent that they had an insurmount-
able lead as a result of the DAVIS
shooting. Isaid nothing, but stepnea
TO the shooting line with a fixed deter.
mination OF giving e~xultant rivals
a great big piece of chargrin to carry
home with them. They watched NV
movements closely, and when lifted
my wooden arm into position and
rested the bright, smooth barrel OF INV
rifle upon it, / could see that they were
suppressing q smile at the unusual fiv.
ure presented. | kept INV nerves
well in hand, however. and drew a
careful bead upon the center of the
target before me. The sharp crack OF
my rifle rang out with unusual clear.
ness and all eyes were directed To the
point where the leaden messenger had
heo. Then up went the signalf from the
! at the target which showed
mat a found the bullseye. AGAIN
and again | pierced the black centre OF
/ ms fQTfrnf md